How Will You Measure Your Life? (or, Staying out of Jail)

Interesting interview with Raj out of Newsweek today.  Back when I was really starting to look into 13F data mining I always would poll hedgie friends where they would most like to have their money and Galleon would always come up.  Oddly, it was always one of the very worst to clone (to which I just attributed, incorrectly,  that they were trading too much).

I just recently learned of (another) friend/acquaintance getting arrested lately.  Shockingly to me, I have known an unfortunate amount of people that have been in jail for various reasons. When I was interviewing with hedge funds coming out of college I got fairly far along with a biotech hedge fund that was seeded by Soros.  Long story short, I didn’t get the job – which turned out to be a godsend when the PM and CFO “inadvertantly” bought up about 70% of two biotech stocks without ever disclosing the stakes.  Needless to say they both paid some fines and spent some time in jail (may still be there, I’m not sure).

From Clay Christensen’s address to the 2010 HBS class (a very highly recommended read “How Will You Measure Your Life?“):

“On the last day of class, I ask my students to turn those theoretical lenses on themselves, to find cogent answers to three questions: First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness? Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? Though the last question sounds lighthearted, it’s not. Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes scholar class spent time in jail. Jeff Skilling of Enron fame was a classmate of mine at HBS. These were good guys—but something in their lives sent them off in the wrong direction.”